1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an elevator installation procedure, system, and template for use in the installation of an elevator.
2. Description of Background Art
Elevators normally operate by means of an elevator car moving in a vertical direction in an existing hoistway or elevator shaft. Many elevator shafts are built of concrete masonry units. Guide rails for the elevator car and a counter-weight are typically fixed to the shaft walls using rail fixtures. During the installation of the elevator, the guide rails and other shaft equipment are adjusted to their proper positions. In this context, shaft equipment refers to guide rails, landing doors and their mounting brackets. In the vertical direction, alignment of the guide rails and other elevator elements is achieved using plumb lines, which are fixed at a point above the shaft equipment to be installed in the elevator shaft and which extend through the whole length of the shaft. It has also been suggested that the alignment could be done using a laser beam, but this method may not be used due to costs and difficult conditions at the site of an elevator installation. Various prior art alignment devices have been employed, including those described, as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,403 to Penicaut et al. discloses a method for installing a hall door assembly on a floor when the elevator rails or car are not installed during early construction stages of a building which has an existing elevator hoistway/elevator shaft. According to Penicaut et al.'s background art, first the elevator drive is installed in the elevator machine room, which may be on the top, side or bottom of the shaft. Then the elevator guide rails are installed by using a template, which is temporarily placed in the shaft, to align the rails relative to the drive. Then, using the elevator rails and another template, the hall door is installed by aligning it with location marks on the template. Penicaut's invention concerns installing a door in a partially completed building and uses a template placed in an elevator shaft at the machine room, the template being keyed to the dimensions of the shaft and identifies the correct location on the elevator shaft wall for brackets 22 and/or 24. A stated object of Penicaut et al. is to identify the correct location for the bracket for the location of the rails, which are installed, along with the elevator car, after the hall door is initiated.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,065,843 to Richards discloses a method for installing elevator system components in a building with an existing elevator hoistway/elevator shaft, in which a working platform that is shown in detail in FIGS. 4 and 5, for example, is set up on the highest floor slab in a building being erected so as to cover the elevator hoistway. The platform serves as a template for rail plumb lines and landing door assemblies, and carries winches which are used to lift the rails and door assemblies into place in the hoistway. Richards involves use of a costly template is employed only when the upper floors of a building are in place.
GB 2,260,963 to Pearce discloses a method of checking the vertical alignment of an elevator guide rail in an existing elevator hoistway/elevator shaft employing a target fixed to an upper region of a guide rail that is used in conjunction with a laser theodolite mounted on the roof of an elevator car. Pearce is limited to adjusting alignment of elevator car rails that are already in place.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,137,485 to Barneman et al. discloses a system and method for plumbing the equipment in an existing elevator hoistway/elevator shaft to their proper positions by mounting a plumbing jig in the elevator shaft, the step of mounting being carried out from the top floor and the plumbing jig being below the top of the elevator shaft; attaching plumb lines from the plumbing jig, the plumb lines being attached from the top floor, positioning various pieces of shaft equipment using the plumb lines attached to the plumbing jig; and fixing the various pieces in place after the step of positioning. The apparatus of the invention comprises support elements fixable to the elevator shaft, a plumbing jig attachable to the support elements and mountable substantially from the top floor, plumb lines suspendable from the plumbing jig and, when suspended from the plumbing jig, the plumb lines extend into the elevator shaft below the plumbing jig and are used to align at least one guide rail. Barneman involves use of a plumbing jig where the upper floors of a building are already in place.
The prior art is directed to existing elevator hoistways/elevator shafts. The systems, methods and templates of Applicants' disclosed invention are, however, directed to use with building elevator hoistways/elevator shafts or with elevator hoistways/elevator shafts that have already been constructed in whole or in part.